jamie o'rourke and the big potato an irish folk tale illustrated and told by tommy de la pola
creatively read and adapted by miss jill jamie o'rourke was the laziest man in all of ireland
he would do anything to avoid working especially if it had to do with growing potatoes
jamie o'rourke his wife eileen would say will have nothing to eat this winter if you don't go out and
dig up those spratties boys saints preservers jamie with wine me back's as sore as it can be
like i've been saying to his wife you'll have to dig them up yourself or break into avoid as much
as get out of this bed so eileen who had done all the planting and watering and weeding anyhow would
go out into the tiny garden and dig the smallest potatoes in ireland all because jamie was too
lazy to dig up large garden and had no money to go buy good potato seeds
then poor aleene wrenched her back and was laid up in bed oh same bridget and the virgin mary herself
must have smiled on arlene aurorik the village woman said boy it's the first race she's been
having since she married jamie o'rourke yes it's true with eileen in bed jamie began to
worry no eileen to dig up meant no pratties all winter and no pratties meant no food oy poor me
jamie wailed i'll be starving to death or best be going to church and confess to father o'malley
there's no telling how soon the old death will be knocking at me door so soon even though it
was midnight jaime set out for the church he was about halfway down the hill when he heard singing
and a tap tap tapping sound sure and i be knowing it jamie whispered but i swear it's a leprechaun
and sure enough sitting in a circle of ferns in the moonlight was a leprechaun singing and
hammering tiny nails into the heels of fairy boots he was making jamie knew just what to do
he crept up and grabbed the little man by his coattails and held him firm oh let me go
let me go the leprechaun shouted oh not on your life jamie said not until you show me where you're
keeping your pot of gold now everyone in ireland knows that leprechauns make boots in dancing shoes
for fairies who pays for them with that gold and everyone knows that if you catch a leprechaun
he'll pay you for his freedom with his pot of gold but this leprechaun was clever than most
oh please mr mortal man you pleaded i'm just a start now to making me fairy shoes
and i only have two pieces of gold in me pot won't you take maybe a wishing staid
why what would i wish for jamie asked me who's about to die a starvation because my wife is
sick in bed and we can't dig out the praties for winter there's such puny properties anyhow
well said the leprechaun reaching into his pocket you could wish for the biggest prey in the world
it would last all winter and you wouldn't have to do nothing more than plant this seed here water it
and white hmm that sounded like a wonderful plan to jamie don he shouted and as the leprechaun
dropped the seed into jamie's hand jamie let go of the coattails and off the leprechauns scampered
when eileen heard what he had done she was furious jamie o'rourke oh you're not
only the laziest mind in ireland but a fool is well giving up me pot a goal for a pratty said
well i'm going to plant the seed eileen and water it and you'll say said jamie and he went on out
and faith she did see in no time at all the biggest finest potato had sprouted out of the
ground followed by the potato itself it was so big it pushed up not only all the dirt in the garden
but the garden shed in the corner of the cottage as well
well surely now it's time to dag jamie said proudly
he hoed all around it but he couldn't dig up that pratty out of the ground
he got a beam and a big rock and tried to pry it out he pushed and pushed but it wouldn't budge
as he was pondering what to do his neighbors passed by on the way to the village
he couldn't believe his eyes he couldn't wait to tell everyone in the village what he had seen
and before you knew it the hill up to jamie's was filled with villagers coming to see the big potato
where did it come from they asked jamie told them about the lucky night he had caught the leprechaun
and how smart he had been boy anyone could have gotten a pot of gold he bragged
but the biggest party in the world well that took some doing however did you outsmart a leprechaun
how did you do it they all asked him at once jamie hesitated and scratched his head
hmm we'll help you dig up your party jaime if you'll be telling us how you did it
and they grabbed shovels and hoes and started to dig
they dug and dug and they pushed and shoveled until the potato flew up out of its hole it
rolled down the hill faster and faster until it reached the bottom where it bounced up
high and came to a stop wedged between two stone walls on either side of the road what to do now
this earplug is so big no one no cart nothing can get by it the constable complained to father
o'malley how's the body to get in or out of the village now what are we gonna do whatever shall
we do yes what shall we do when they all looked at jamie and said it's your practice you've got
to move it out of our way well arlene spoke up there's more than enough praty for everyone why
won't you all take some so the villagers sawed and chopped and carted off huge pieces of the potato
while jaime sat on the stone wall and watched all winter long everyone had potato to eat
and eat and eat until no one wanted to see or even hear about potato again
in the spring jamie said i saved a potato eye for the seed and it's just about time to plant it
oh no the villagers all cried oh thank you if you promise naught to planted it jamie
we'll promise before st patrick and all the other saints to see that you and eileen always have
plenty to cook and ate we don't want another giant probably around here jamie smiled and agreed what
a perfect life for a lazy man and so you say darling eileen jamie told her i wasn't a fool
with that leprechaun after all and eileen had to admit that jamie o'rourke was right the end